The Courageous Coward
by Old Enough To Die
Summary: Ron wants to break up with Lavender, but lacks the courage to do so. What will it take for him to stop messing around?


**Well, here it is, my first story for this site. Yay! Anyhoo...I had really hoped that my first story would be more memorable, but whatever. **

* * *

"What can I honestly do about it?" Ron asked as they walked down the corridor with the other students. It was the only time anyone could have any semblance of privacy around here.

"Well, you could stop being such a coward and tell her how you feel," Hermione replied, still trying to put something in her bag which she just couldn't seem to find room for.

"Hermione, do you even understand? It isn't that easy to end a relationship like ours."

"Ronald, your entire relationship consists of snogging. You don't even like each other," She said, finally closing her bag, although it looked likely to break open at any moment.

"And what am I supposed to say? I don't want to sound like..."

"Like an idiot?" She asked, turning back to him with her hands on her hips. "That can't be helped. You're about to embarass the poor girl. You can give up a little bit of your own pride."

"Well, this is all easy for you to say, you've never had to break up with a girl before."

"Oh, and I suppose you think breaking up with attractive Quidditch players is easy, do you?" A small smile spread across her face.

"Hermione, don't joke, I'm being serious." He made some sort of frustrated gesture with his arms which almost made her laugh.

"Being serious about what?" Said Lavender, grabbing Ron's hand.

"Oh, hello Lavender," Hermione said. Then she turned to Ron. "I'm going to go find Harry."

Ron gave her a weak smile as she walked away with a brief wave.

"You know, I don't like her," Lavender said, matter-of-factly.

Ron shrugged, rolled his eyes and started leading the way to the Great Hall.

* * *

"I think I may be going mad," Ron said, sliding into a seat next to Hermione. She turned to him with an amused smile on her face. "I'm not kidding, Hermione, she's driving me absolutely bonkers."

"So break up with her, Ron. What do you expect me to do?"

"I don't know, can't you talk to her or something? Tell her she's gotten really...creepy?" She gave him a disapproving look. "Well, I don't have as much experience talking to girls."

"You've been talking to me for the past six years."

"Yes, and you've seen how awful I am at that, and we're _friends_. Please, Hermione, I'll never ask for anything again, I promise."

"First of all, your whining is extremely unattractive. Second, that is not a promise you'll keep, because you can't get through school without my help. And thirdly, I will not help you break this girl's heart."

"You don't even like her!"

"Neither do you, and I'm not the one she's...snogging." She said the last word as if she was disgusted. "Besides, when someone breaks a girl's heart, it's nearly the most painful thing in the world, and all girls agree that boys need to pay for that. By girl standards, I'm not allowed to help you. You need to feel this embarrassment. It'll be good for you." She patted his shoulder. "Good luck."

Just then, Lavender entered the common room, and Hermione shrugged. Ron gave her a sad, pathetic, pleading look, but she simply raised an eyebrow and shook her head, gathering her things and walking away before she would have to be cordial to Lavender.

* * *

"You two have been wandering around alone together for weeks. What am I supposed to think?"

Ron was silent, allowing her to yell. He knew he was being a coward again, but he couldn't figure out what to do. And Lavender was loud and imposing for someone so small. Hermione stood off to the side, looking at them with amazement, glad just to be out of the line of fire. Everyone else in the common room was watching them, too, but they seemed to be laughing at him. And he deserved it, too.

After what felt like several years, Lavender stopped yelling, finishing the conversation and the relationship by calling over her shoulder at Ron that it was over. Everyone stood amazed for a few minutes, not doing anything. And then people started to lose interest and return to their school work. Hermione moved to stand at Ron's side, and they walked to one of the many deserted groups of chairs.

"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Are you kidding? That was like a Howler, but it didn't come in one of those envelopes that just warn you to run out of the room before it decides to explode."

Hermione seemed to contemplate this for a moment. "Well, it was worse than it could have been, what with Ginny and Dean making a scene just a few minutes before."

"Oh, wonderful to know that not all break ups will be that terribly embarrassing."

"I'm proud of you, anyway."

Ron turned to face her quickly. "What? Why?"

"Because you let go of a little bit of pride. At least you didn't beg her not to leave you. You didn't even ask. You could have chosen any place in the world to have this conversation, you could have set the stage so that no one saw it. But you chose to let the relationship die despite what people will think of you now. And that was very brave." With that, she pulled out a book and began to read. Ron smiled—if that could be called a smile. It was more like a grimace.

"Yes, at least I can say I'm brave now. What a wonderful reward for the loss of dignity."

"You can also say you're free from Lavender. And that is pretty good."

Ron really smiled at that. "That's true. And brilliant." And then he leaned back in his chair and, with a sigh, nearly fell asleep.

"You do still have that Potions essay to do, and you have Quidditch practice tonight and I'm not going to wait for you again. So we'd better get started."

Ron shot up in his chair, his drowsiness fading fast. "That's right! Thanks for the reminder."

Hermione laughed. "See? Aren't you glad we didn't make that deal?"

* * *

**Worst ending ever, but, well, I'm terrible at endings. And this has to be in for Pen's contest in a few hours and I won't get a chance to post before school, so...Anyhoo. Reviews? Yeah, those are awesome.**


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